Rail-bond.



s P. HULL.

RAIL BOND. APPLIOATION IILED JULY 15,1911.

Patented July 2, 1912.

Wiinesses: W

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL P. HULL, OF DOBBS FERRY, NEW YORK.

RAIL-BOND.

To (1 whom it may concern Re known that I, SAMUEL-P. Hnnn, a citizen of the United States. residing at Hobbs Ferry, in the county of Westchester and State of New York, have invented con tain new and useful Improvements in Rail- Bonds. of which the following is a specification. rct'crcnce being bad therein to the accompanying drawings, forming part thereof.

My invention relates to rail-bonds for forming a, ood electrical connectionbetween the abutting ends of track rails. and relates particularly to such bonds in the art of railway signaling. A common way of effecting this bonding and one that on some roads has been made standard practice, is to cmploy a boinbwire which extends along at the outside of the fislrplate lying in the angle t'oi'mcd by the base and upright of the fishpiate, and having its ends firmly secured in apertures in the webs of the abutting rails beyond the fish'plat'c, by tapered channel *pins driven through the webs of the rails.

The bonds are placed at the outside of the tish-plate.-.'so that. heir integrity can be ascertained by inspection, and they are laid close to the upright parts of the fish-plates to guard against accidental injurv by work- 'between the I fish plates.

men or otherwise. As a result ot this practice serions objection has developed. The rolling stock in passing over the track dcpresses the rails at intervals and causes them to rise at intermediate points. so that. undulatory movements 11) vertical planes take place, called snaking. The snakin slightly draws the spikes so that it is commen for the heads cfthe spikes to be raised a sufiiei'ent distance above the ba es of the fish-plates to permit the bond-wires to enter s ike-heads and the bases of the X3 is well known, temperature changes in the rails produce expansion and contraction, and expansion causes the ends of the rails to ap roach each other. When this occurs the end-wires are bowed or arched outward and move under the raised spike-heads. Then when snaking ot' the rails takes place the bonds are caught by the spike heads and sheared of! and l)lul(til.

A broad object. of my intention is to obvi ate injury to the bonds by the spilvwhcnd, I

.railond of flat or ribbon shape in as above described, and a more particular 1 object is to prevent the outward bowing of Specification 01' Letters Patent.

Application filed July 15, 1811. Serial No. 638,602.

Patented July 2. 1912.

the bonds, by reason of which they are moved under the spike-heads.

Other objects and advantages of my in vention will hereinafter appear.

The present invention includes a rail-bond having engaging means, such as hooks, in

roximity to its ends, for hooking over and ehind the ends of the usual fish-plate.

M present invention also includes a wire roximity to its ends, and of the normal siiape of the wire, for evample cylindrical, in its ter minal parts beyond the flat parts and also in its body part between the flat parts.

My present invention also more particularly includes bends forming hooks contiguous to the body part of the bond and a series of bends. for example, corrugations, beyond the hook bends.

My invention also includes other features of construction and combinations of parts,

as will appear from the following; description.

I shall now describe the rail-bonds ililn trated in the accompanying drawings anc. embodying my invention and shall there a t'tcr point out my invention in claims.

Figure l is a plan view. partly in horizontal section on a plane through the bo d attaching channel pins. of a bonded rail joint embodying my invention. Fig. 52 is a front clcvatimi of the same. Fig. 3 is an enlarged transverse section on a vertical plane indicated bv the lines f-3 of Fig 1 and 2 as viewed from the right: Fig. l is a side view of the left end portion of the raill)()lld with the attaching terminal straightcued out. f r illustrative purposes. Fig. is an edge or top view of the left end portio of the lmndbct'orc applying to the rails. Fig. 6 shows top and front views of a moditicd raiLbond.

'lhc rail-bond illustrated in Figs. '1 to 5, l1ltltl. l\'t, is made t'rbm the usual bonding wire. tlattcncd and bent to provide hooks l. and corrugated flexible parts 2 in proximity to the coils of the bond. llevond the tint and corrugnttcd cud parts 52 are inwainliy prote ting ottaci'ving: tciminais 3 which in cr sssc lion are circular. correspomlin; to the riginal cylindrical lion ding: v. in \lo thc boil) l ol the lmlnl between tilt llut c trugatcd clnl part J is cylindcicat or of circular cross-section. The hook bends 1 are located upon the corrugations contiguous to the straight bod'y 4. The straight cylindrical body 4 is of the correct length, as shown in Figs. land 2, to bring the hook bends 1 into proper engaging relation with the usual fish-plate 5, so that the hook bends" 1 hook over and behind the ends of the fish-plate, advantage being taken of the usual space between the rails 6 and the fishplate. The inwardly projecting cylindrical attaching terminals 3 fit into the usual round bond-receiving apertures in the webs of the abutted rails 6 where they are firmly secured by the usual tapered channel pins 7 driven from the inner sides of the rails. It is to be noted that the cylindrical shape of the attaching terminals 3 extends out from the webs of the rails, thereby providing additional strength and stiffness at the points of joining the rails as compared with the more flexible flattened end parts 2 and so obviating liability of breakage at the points of junction with the rails.

By reason of the hooking of the hook bonds 1 over the ends of the stilt fish-plate the body 4 of the bond will at all times be held straight by the tension and close to the upright part of the fish-plate, and thus away from the raised heads of the usual standard track spikes 8. W'hen the ends of the rails 6 approach to and jrecede from each the distance will be altered between terminals 3 and the other, the respective attaching c rresponding hooks 1, such movement, however. being readily permitted by the highly flexible Hat and corrugated end parts 2 When the abutted ends of the rails move toward each other, the thrust is received by the hooks l and transmitted to the fish-plate.

..ll tendency of the body 4 of the bond to "how is pre ented by the engagement of the hooks 1 with the fish-plate 5 which keeps the body 4 of the bond in a stretched and straight condition, so that the body 4 cannot at any point move outward under the raised heads of the spikes 8.

The modified rail oond illustrated in Fig. (i oft the same cylindrical form throughout, nuhiding attaching terminals 9, corrugrated flexible end parts 10, hook bonds it and. straight body part 12- In other respects the construction is the same as thathereim before described, and the operation is sub- Of course, the corrugated part 10, ofccircular cross-sectiorn-is not so flexible as the flattened corrugated part 2, and therc'fore the attaching terminal 9 will'not be rcneved to so great an extent from the strains incident to the relative movements of the rai s. The straight body part 12. however, will be prevented from bowing in the seam; manner as hereinbefore described,

In both of the constructions the flexible i end parts are bowed or curved upwardly when in attached position (Figs. 2 and 3, particularly) to bring the attaching terminals to the usual middlepoints of attachment to the webs of the railswhile permitting the intermediate part or bod of the bond to lie 'on the base of the fish-plate be-. neath the nuts 13 of the usual track bolts 14, as shown in the drawings.

The construction shown in Figs. 1 to 5, inclusiv embodies the broad invention claimed by me in another application filed simultaneouslyherewith under Serial Number 638,601. in that it has flexible end parts and a stiff intermediate portion to resist bowing, but except for this broad feature claimed in said companion application, it is broadly and specifically claimed herein. The modified construction shown in Fi 6 embodies the invention broadly claime in the present application It is obvious that various other modifications may be made in the, constructions shown in the drawings and above particularly described within the principle an scope of my invention I claim: y

1. A rail-bond having en aging means in proximity -to its ends, so t at the body of the bond between such means can be preengaging means with a stilfening body.

Q. A rail-bond having hooks in proximity to its ends adapted to engage over' and behind the ends of a fishplate to thereby prevent bowing of the body of the bond between the hooks, p

3. A rail-bond havinghooks in proximity to its ends adapted to engage over and behind the ends of a.fish-plate' to thereby prevent bowing of the body of the bond between the hooks, having beyond the hooks a series of longitudinal bends to impart flexibility, and having attaching terminals beyond t e series of bends for attaching to abutting rails.

4. A rail-bond having bends forming hooks in proximity to its ends adapted to engage over and behind the ends of a fishplate to prevent bowing of the body of the bond between the hooks, and having be the hooks and "forming continuations therefrom a longitudinal series of transverse conrugations of the bond to impart flexibility, and having attaching terminals beyond the corru ations for attaching to abutting rails.

5.- continuous rail-bond of flat sha e in proximity to its ends and of cylin rical shape in. the body thereof between the flat end parts, and also of'cylindrical shape in its terminal parts beyond the fiat end parts.

6. A wire rail-bond having flat corrugated parts in proximity to its ends and a cylindrical partbetween and continuous with the flat corrugated parts. I

7. a wire rail-bond having flat corrugated :vented from bowingbyengagement of the.

110:1; wmiguuus to t Imvmg bends furmmg 5, A wire rail-bumT of fia .Jmpe:

inuijy t0 its, ends, the

mgaied and the corrugatiom the body of {119 books, the body of the and co rr u g t ed and p (3 body 01' H10 imnd= hooks.

flat parts being wrcnnngunus to bond having bends: fmming bond between the Hat arts being of cylin m Prnx- I SAMUEL P. HULL.

2 Witnosscs: 5 WM. ASHLEY KELLY; BER mnQpwEN. 

